Biden's Back: WH Says Obama, VP Will Help Broker Deal

On Monday, the White House announced that Vice President Joe Biden would get involved in ongoing negotiations concerning the government shutdown and the debt ceiling. Over the weekend, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)implored Biden to get involved. According to the White House, President Obama and Biden will meet with Senate Majority Leader Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Minority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH), and Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) at the White House.

In 2011, the debt limit debate was ended by a Joe Biden-brokered deal. In Bob Woodward’s book The Price of Politics, Woodward reported that Biden created sequestration cuts with House Majority Whip Eric Cantor. Biden also reportedly brokered the deal under which the Senate authorized the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) in exchange for extension of the Bush tax rates.